Inner Strength
by Dancewithknives
Summary: Angela Ziegler goes on a journey with a surprise companion.


Inner Strength

"You're terrific as far as I'm concerned, and that's what counts."

Charlotte, Charlotte's Web, E.B. White

The Santa Maria International Terminal was as busy as an airport could be on a Tuesday. Being on the furthest tip of Spain made it a very busy terminal for flights entering and exiting Europe as well as those ending their trans-Atlantic journey from the Americas.

A young woman, no older than 20 years of age, was walking through the terminal. She had spent the last twenty minutes of her thirty minute layover refreshing herself and stretching out her legs from one long flight in preparation of another. She wore a pair of white kaki pants and black kami underneath a jean jacket with pure white wings embroidered across the back. She rolled her carry-on luggage behind her while her high pony tail tying her striking blonde hair back bobbed with each step. A set of white earbuds were in place on her ears with a long cord that led down to the phone in her pocket. Although she had listened to numerous things throughout her journey, at the moment she was listening to the oddly compelling tale about how a pig befriended a spider.

Although a native of Switzerland with very good English, she listened to the audiobook in English to help fine-tune her third language and better understand her American coworkers, but after listening to it for an hour found the story quite entertaining, even if she didn't understand it all.

"I wove my webs for you because I liked you." Spoke the voice of the narrator, a woman with a very kind and gentle tone, "After all, what's a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while, and then we die."

The girl daydreamed as she walked, hypnotized by the motherly voice in her ear as she listened, but as he eyes dazedly drifted, she caught herself focusing on an incident before her.

What she saw was a little girl who looked to be a little over ten years old, with tanned skin and very dark hair that was arranged with her bangs tied together in braids. She was wearing a yellow sundress and had a pink backpack. Although not necessarily anything that would catch the eyes, what did stick out were the three airport security men standing around her, escorting her through the deck with one having his arm around her to prevent her from running away.

"Odd." She thought. Walking away until she realized that she recognized the girl.

She pulled her earbuds out and changed course, hurrying up to intercept the escort. Although they continued on, the young girl noticed the approaching woman and locked eyes with her, seeing that she was being inspected, but not immediately familiar with her.

"Fareeha?" she asked, causing the girl and the adults to stop.

"Do you know this woman?" one of the men asked.

Their charge nodded, but the woman answered again, "Yes, I work with her mother. But she's supposed to be in Switzerland? What on earth are you doing here?"

She approached again, but the airport security locked around the small girl, one asked, "May I see some I.D., Please."

Annoyed, the woman rolled her eyes and brought her carry on forward to stand on its own. Then, she reached into her pocket to pull out her wallet and flipped it open, removing cards in search of the requested documentation. Finally, between an old library card, credit card, and fast food gift card, she pulled out two laminated I.D.'s. The first being the endorsed Medical License of Dr. Angela Ziegler, PHD, MD. Second, an ID badge with the logo of the United Nations and the Task Force Designation, "Overwatch".

The men took a gander, and then turned to each other in surprise, one commenting, "Well, it looks like what she was saying about Overwatch was true after all."

"I told you so!" Fareeha Amari quipped in a way very similar to her mother.

It was somewhat strange how a little piece of plastic signed by bureaucrats made her ascend from a juvenile to an adult, but that was something to ponder for another time. With a higher authority consulted, the guards relaxed around their tiny charge, "We found her wandering around the airport and said that she missed her flight. We were going to take her to the lost and found until we could figure out what she was doing, but since you're here would you mind chaperoning her home, then?"

At that moment, the loudspeaker began a chime, then the stewardess reported, "Attention: International Flight 378 can begin boarding; Flight 378 Spain to Haiti can begin boarding." Before repeating the notice in other languages.

The doctor looked up at the line beginning to form for her flight and then said, "I… Well, I'm sorry but I need to get on my flight. I just saw her and wanted to figure out what she was doing here."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I assumed that you may be able to bring her to her. My mistake." The leader said, protectively hovering his hand around the girl once more.

"Well, yes…" Angela stammered, "It's just that I'm not exactly going to a-"

The Loudspeaker began speaking once more, "Reminder: International Flight 378 has begun boarding"

"Come on!" Fareeha said, "I'm gonna miss my flight!"

Ignoring the two, the man continued, "Someone will watch her while we get in contact with a proper guardian."

Dr. Ziegler began to glance between all parties in the commotion, the airport security wanting to take her away in a strange place, the girl who was wandering around hundreds of miles from home, and her connection flight, slowly beginning to fill with other passengers. For someone who had performed open heart surgery before, the event was so stressful that she felt the urge to bite on her fingernails. "Is that all you can do? Surely that has to be another way."

"Come on! Lets go!" the girl demanded.

"Not unless you have another ticket." He said.

A lightbulb went off in the young blonde's head. "Actually, I do."

The escort became somewhat shocked as a line usually reserved for simple bravado was challenged and defeated. Quickly, the doctor pulled her suitcase aside and pulled out a ticket from the front pocket of her luggage. Ecstatic to see the supplied paperwork, Fareeha escaped from her captors and jumped to the side of the doctor.

Angela asked if there was anything else that she needed to do, and when the security couldn't supply an answer, she took the girl by the hand and got in line for the flight. While waiting, Angela pulled out her phone and began trying to make calls, but received no answer. The security guards stood around for a moment, conversing with themselves as to what they should do, for there was proper procedure to follow in claiming a minor, but from what the public knew, Overwatch was a military organization, and that was an issue that no part-time security monitor wanted to deal with.

Within a few minutes, both tickets were checked in and the two found their seats aboard the plane. While still trying to make a phone call, Angela stowed her baggage in the overhead bin and sat at the window while Fareeha sat in the aisle seat with her pink backpack on her lap. The plane taxied for takeoff, and Angela was forced to stow away her phone and strap herself in.

Fareeha, sitting with a handheld game device tucked against her lap for takeoff, nudged her from the side, "Good thinking, Doc. They almost got me."

It was remarkable how calm the girl was, almost as if she was playing a game. But now that she had her all to herself, Angela was free to figure what exactly was going on now.

"Don't mention it, but Fareeha, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school? How did you get all the way to Spain?"

The girl gave a sly grin. As the plane readied for takeoff, Fareeha explained in great detail how she had decided to skip school, packed a day bag for herself, and snuck onto the base and stowed away with the cargo. From there, the transports took off from their base in Switzerland and refueled at Santa Maria International to make the direct flight to their destination, and at that point she had snuck out to relieve herself and was intending to sneak back but was unable to return to the tarmac.

As she finished, Angela found the question flipped on her, but sadly her story was not as interesting as her partner. Although the Omnic Crisis had been declared over, occasional conflicts and small fights were still occurring. Although Overwatch did not have jurisdiction in certain countries, the comradery of the Human Race exceeded geopolitics. There had been a conference in Eastern Europe sharing the new tactics of the robotic hostiles and how it related to the Medical Field, and as Overwatch's Chief Medical Officer, Angela and her assistant had taken the opportunity to observing their findings before going to regroup with the rest of the task force. An unfortunate -albiet convenient- overnight case of the flu had made said assistant unable to join her on the voyage home, but suffice to say the prospect of having a little extra arm and legroom for a long flight didn't go unnoticed.

As her story ended, the flight attendant turned the seatbelt sign on and instructed all to remain seated and prepare for takeoff. She did as instructed, made sure her new traveling companion was secured and listened as the remaining safety instructions were explained to the passengers. Soon after, the plane made its way to the runway and awaited its turn for takeoff. The engines began to turn and the plane began to pull down the length of the runway. Instead of the rapid escalation of their acceleration, the first thing Angela felt was a tight pressure on her hand, and when she looked down she saw the girl's fingers wrapped around her palm, waiting patiently as they went airborne.

Angela closed her hand, holding onto Fareeha's hand and slowly drifting her gaze out the window, watching as they left the ground and the full gravity of what she had just gotten herself into set in.

* * *

"So what are you saying? We should just wait here for the night?" Angela asked, flabbergasted at the answers that the secretary given her as he packed up his work desk.

After ten hours, their flight landed and they were the only ones getting off. Meanwhile, another group was getting ready to embark as soon as they exited the tunnel. What was rather strange was that as soon as the travelers had embarked the plane, all the staff at the terminal began packing up their kiosks or securing their equipment and looked to be ready to leave.

Both having to use the restroom, Angela was on her phone once more trying to reach out to someone, but she couldn't find a signal. It was just by chance that she was able to stop the man in charge of the baggage claim to ask if she could use a phone. As he explained through partial English, the lack of service was due to the Omnics taking out the local cell tower in order to disorganize the government forces. Although the terminal was safely far away from the combat zone and air traffic signals functioning, the blackout reduced them to shortwave radios. There was no way to call a taxi, or get information on a bus, or call in for a ride to their destination.

It was soon afterwards that Angela asked her question as to what she should do, and not catching the rhetorical nature of it, the man continued to explain that the terminal was closing for the night and nobody was going to be around and that "El Coyotes" would be here soon after.

With that, Angela walked away from the desk to an awaiting Fareeha sitting on a bench, portable game console in her hands as she waited. The man finished cleaning up his space and exited, leaving them alone in the wing.

She sat down beside her and the girl paused her game, turning to her and asking, "Is someone going to pick us up?"

Angela gave a sigh and shook her head, "I'm afraid not, but I have an idea of what to do. We should get going, it's getting late." Fareeha stowed her handheld away in her pink backpack and followed behind Angela as she walked out to the front entrance of the terminal. There, they stood at the doors and watched as the last cars vacated the parking lot. The parking lot had a few cracks in it, but the blacktop was largely in good shape. Near the building were some raised areas for vegetation, which held green grass and tall bushes with spiked blades on them. But throughout all of it was a slight dusting of sand. Being an island, it wasn't surprising that it would be common, but the airport's close proximity to the ocean caused the surrounding area to be a mix of beach and rock with the occasional partial marine flora.

Angela put up her hand to shield her eyes, looking towards the sun as it began its descent into the hills around the station. At the hill, she saw a road and traced it back to the parking lot where she and her companion were standing. She pointing in the direction of the road and said, "I asked for help, and from the sound of things this road will take us to the where we need to go. Someone said that they saw Overwatch vehicles setting up at an old relief camp at the top of a hill. If we get going we should be there by nightfall."

Fareeha adjusted her backpack, feeling the weight and asked, "Wow, how far away is that?"

Angela turned to her and said, "I'm not very sure. Its going to be quite a hike." She raised her arm up to check the time on her Rolex watch. When ready, she looked down at Fareeha and smiled and took a step forward, "but from the way I see it, it's always just one foot in front of the other."

And so they walked, Angela leading the way with her carry on luggage being pulled right behind her while Fareeha was at her side, always one step behind. They walked across the parking lot and merged onto the coastal highway, winding down the coast and circling around the hills. Although the terminal faded from view and beach was left behind, the presence of sand and brown dirt and the occasional pointy green bush remained as they walked into the sun.

The doctor walked on the road, her slightly raised heel making a dull clomp as she dragged her carry-on luggage on the uneven asphalt. Fareeha remained behind her making a quick snap as her sandals slapped against her heels while she occasionally switched from the hard blacktop to the sandy and rocky shoulder. Eventually, she increased her speed to match the young chaperone and asked her, "Doctor Angela?"

She turned to her and said, "Sweetie, you don't need to use my title when were just being friends."

"oh, okay." She waited for a moment and then restarted, "so… you're a doctor, right?"

"Yes." She answered, ignoring the silliness of the inquiry.

"Like a… normal people doctor, or a special 'sit-on-your-couch-and-listen-to-me-talk-about-my-anger' or 'I'm-really-smart-and-make-stuff' or 'I-fix-your-cat-when-it-feels-icky' kind of doctor?" she asked. Although she could apply to most of what she had asked, Angela simply stated that she was a medical doctor and left it at that. "Good, because I have something to ask you about… if that's okay." Angela kept walking, insisting that she continue. "You know, I could probably ask my mom about this, but she might think its… weird."

Angela had a pretty strong guess as to what she was thinking about, and although it would best be done with her mother, she knew that she should be more than able to answer her question. The fact that she was confiding it in her did say a lot as well. This was probably the most time the two had spent together, so hopefully this was a good thing for both of them.

"By all means, dear. What's on your mind?" Angela asked.

"What does a dead guy smell like?"

Although not breaking her pace, Angela felt her eyebrows raise and she gave a confused chuckle, asking, "Vat… vhy on earth would you vant to know that?" she asked.

"One of the boys in my school said that his dad told him that dead guys smell like burnt hotdogs. I think he's being stupid so I was thinking about asking my mom but I keep forgetting." She stopped for a moment, reflecting on her question and regretting it and continued, "You know, its okay if you don't know or anything. I just thought that since you were a doctor and all that you would know but its okay. You probably do all sorts of important stuff but I know my mom should know. She's a soldier and all, so I-"

"Sweet."

"What?" she asked, looking up as her chaperone continued to lead the way.

"When a body deceases, it begins to decay, and unless it can be properly preserved then it will begin to decompose and it makes a very sweet smell."

"huh, sweet. I definitely didn't think of that."

"Yes, after all, we are organic. There's more stages to the process, but the most immediate smell besides bowel evacuation is a very sticky sweet odor as the body begins to rot. Now, I'm not talking about fresh powdered sugar or syrup, but old spoiled fruit or rotten bread. It may be hard to imagine because the scent is so repulsive, but that is what it smells like."

Hands on the straps of her backpack, Fareeha bit her lip and pondered the doctor's answer, looking into her own past to somehow imagine what Angela was describing or confirming it with her own life experiences. Whether she could or not was dubious, but when she was done she said, "Ha! I knew he was being stupid!"

Angela smiled and shook her head, continuing to walk towards the setting sun. It was hard to imagine it, but Fareeha was definitely Ana Amari's daughter.

* * *

After hours of walking, the sun was about half way over the horizon. The beach was far behind, and if not for the fact that they had been following a straight road, it would have seemed that the two had been walking in a great circle.

But, their faith in Angela's directions paid off as they approached a good sign along their journey. Standing out in the largely empty countryside was a slender road sign sticking out of the ground by a thin rail that was stuck in the dirt. Two medium sized boulders sat at the base of the sign, partially acting as protection from the elements or inattentive roadsters.

Wiping sweat off her forehead, Angela looked up at the sign and thought on the directions she had received earlier, and said that they were on the right track. The roadmarker was at a three way intersection, the way they came and the way directly forward would follow along the coastal highway, while the road perpendicular to the path they had traveled would lead them up into the hills and towards their destination.

"Ms. Angela, can we take a break for a minute?" asked Fareeha, Angela agreed, and the girl approached the rocks by the sign and sat down on top of them.

Dr. Ziegler didn't know if they were making good time or not, but from what she had been told they were about halfway done. She pulled her carry-on luggage close and let it stand on its own. Once free of the extra weight she pumped her arm a few times trying to increase blood flow and loosen up the tightened muscles from dragging her luggage all this way. She began to twist her core, trying to address any aches or pains that she had, because they would need to get going because it would be dark soon.

"Aaah!" Fareeha shrieked.

"What's wrong!" Angela responded, frightened back to the moment as Fareeha sat on the rock. When she turned, she saw her sitting as she had seen before, but now the girl had her right foot in both hands, pulled up and inspecting the underside until she found something that startled her.

"There's something on my foot!" she cried. "I thought something was going on, but what is this!?"

Angela rushed to her side and got on her knees, holding out the girl's foot to take a look. What she saw, hidden between the joints on her second toe, was a white bubble of flesh, sticking out from the rest of the tan skin around it.

Angela gave a sigh of relief. "It's nothing, dear." She brought her fingers close and gave it a poke, "It's just a blister."

"Blister? Like when you get something stuck in you?"

Angela shook her head, bringing her thumb and pointer fingers to the bubble and getting ready to squeeze "No, that's a splinter, this is a blister. Its just friction causing a pocket of skin to swell with fluid. It will go away if left alone, but…" she squeezed, penetrating the skin and causing the fluid to escape. "we just need to pop it and move along."

"ah!" Fareeha yiped, pulling her foot out of the doctor's hands and into her own as she watched the liquid drain from a tiny prick in the growth.

Angela stood and looked around at their surroundings once more, checking to see that nothing suspicious caught her attention. "We really should get going, though. It will be dark soon."

She waited for another minute, allowing Fareeha to relax and move on from her blister, but when Angela decided that they had rested for long enough, all she saw was her small companion sitting on the rock, rubbing her fingers against the loose deflated skin of the irritated spot. She tried putting her flip flop back on, but then had to confess, "I don't know if I can go on like this…"

Angela turned around, not letting the girl see her roll her eyes, and then she looked back at the setting sun, swearing that it was higher in the sky a moment ago. She then looked at her luggage, then the girl on the rock, and then finally the masculine Rolex on her wrist.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and concentrated on what she had to do. Angela grabbed her luggage bag and approached Fareeha sitting on the rock. The girl was so focused on her wound that she didn't notice the action. She slid it up besides the rock and let it stand on her own. Next, she took off her jean jacket and hung it up by the drag-along handle at the top of the bag. Finally, she walked in front of the young girl –still haven't noticed anything that she had done so far- and got down on her knees with her back in front of her.

"Fareeha," Angela said, "come here and put your arms around my neck."

The young Egyptian looked at her with her head cocked sideways in confusion, but she complied. She slipped her sandal back on and stood up, approaching the doctor and leaning against her back with her arms wrapped around her neck.

Angela pulled her arms back till she could feel Fareeha's legs in her dress. Then, she took a deep breath and began to rock herself forward ever so slightly. She closed her eyes and counted to herself, " _Eins, zwei, Drei…_ " and then shot forward and onto her feet. Pulling with her arms, she spread Fareeha's legs apart until they were resting in-line with the curves of her waist with some extra support from her arms.

"Woah!" the girls said, holding on as she was lifted onto her chaperone's back. Angela, when sure that she had the girl evenly distributed throughout her core muscle groups, began to proceed up the path and continue their journey. Fareeha, understanding that they were moving on now, turned her head and said, "um… Doctor Angela, you forgot your bags!"

Although already having come to terms with it, Angela turned her head, getting one last look at her black luggage bag and her blue denim jacket, seeing the white wings embroidered on its back as she walked away. She continued forward and said, "It's alright. When we get to where we need to be I can have someone come back and get it for me."

"Really?"

"Oh, yes indeed." She insisted.

After climbing the first hill, Fareeha began to slightly kick out her legs as she rode Angela. She spoke soon after, but with a hint of mounting playfulness and excitement in her voice, "Ms. Angela, may I pretend to ride you like a horse?"

"You most certainly may not!" the doctor responded, her tone direct and stern, but after a moment to reflect on how she must have sounded, continued, "But don't be surprised if I start sounding like one." To drive her point home, she neighed and flapped her lips as she exhaled, causing the little girl to laugh.

* * *

Even though it had felt as if they had walked for hours, Angela knew that it couldn't be the case as the sun was still out.

Angela, leaning forward to better preserve her momentum and support the girl's weight on her back, kept walking while Fareeha kept her legs tight against her lower back while she wrapped one arm around Angela's chest and held on by her shoulder. As the trip progressed, the sun dipped lower and lower over the skyline, and with it, Angela felt fareeha's weight lean more and more on her until she felt the girl's cheek laying against the nape of her neck.

"Angela" she yawned, "can you tell me a story?"

Still keeping stride, she responded with, "what kind?"

"Anything will work."

The doctor kept walking, searching through her mind for the perfect tale to tell and eventually began by saying, "there once was a little girl who lived in a village a very long time ago."

"What did she look like?"

"She was beautiful, she had long blonde hair and perfect skin that was as pure as snow. She had lost her parents a long time ago and so she was raised by the whole village. She loved everyone, and she wanted to learn how to do every job so that she could repay them for being so very nice to her."

"What happened to her?"

"Well, one day, she was out on a farm helping the family milk the cows when she saw a lone spider sitting on a fence post. It was dark, with long black ebony hairs groomed nice and clean and great big eyes that let it see the whole world."

"Ew, did she smoosh it?"

"No, no. You see, this wasn't just an ordinary spider, but a magical one. The farm where she worked entered out into a deep and dark wild forest, and in that forest was an old witch. The young girl asked the spider who it was, and as it turned out, it wasn't just any magical spider, but the witch's favorite spider."

"What was it doing out there?"

"The witch had many spiders before, but this was the youngest and littlest one she had yet, and she loved it so much that it warmed her cold heart. The girl asked the spider what it was doing, and the spider told her that it had tried to go out and explore the world and make the witch proud, but in its bravery, the spider was lost and wanted to go back home."

"So… did she smoosh it?"

Angela chuckled, smiling herself over the tale, "No, instead she comforted the spider and told it that she would take it home, because she knew what it was like to be lonely."

Fareeha gave a great big yawn, slapping her lips together and pushing her head into Angela's hair. "But… if the woods were dangerous, and the witch was so old and mean, then why would she go and do that?"

"Because Fareeha, It doesn't matter who or what, but instead what's right and wrong. She knew that it was the Witch's very favorite spider, and how sad she would be if anything happened to it, so she picked up the spider and put it on her shoulder and made her way into the deep dark forest."

Angela waited, anticipating Fareeha interrupting her once more, but an interjection never came. She turned her head, seeing the girl sound asleep on her back. She smiled, her few childhood friends always told her that her stories were so boring that they could put someone to sleep. She was thankful for it after all, because she didn't know how the story was going to end herself.

The doctor focused on the path ahead, noticing how dark the lonesome road had become, and picked up her pace to a light jog, telling herself that all she needed was to just put one foot in front of the other.

* * *

"Fareeha," Angela said, "Fareeha, wake up. We're here."

The little girl opened her eyes, rubbing them as she came too. She looked around, trying to make out where she was, but it was incredibly dark out. Finally, as Angela lowered herself to the ground, the young girl noticed a large gate about one hundred paces away. Fareeha disembarked from the doctor's back. She had to stretch her legs to get them back into a comfortable condition. Doctor Ziegler had to stretch and twist herself as she released the extra burden.

They approached the checkpoint, passing a sign that read, "Camp Tubman" and met with the guard. Angela introduced herself to the night shift and was informed of her living arrangements. At her insistence, she requested that the men on duty not report her arrival and instead allow her to do so herself.

The two walked through the camp, there were structures of varying sizes, barracks, mess halls, armories, but all of which had their lights off. Eventually, the two found a small mobile home along the line with its wheels chalked and tow bar staked to the ground. Checking the letter and number on the side, Angela entered the shelter and allowed Fareeha in behind her.

"This is where you're going to stay?" asked Fareeha.

"Yes, it seems that way." Angela answered. The trailer was sparse. It had a clean white table and small kitchenette area with a stove and microwave right by the doorway with a few benches littered around it. There were brown cabinets lining the ceiling and as she explored, Angela found a mattress and pillow behind a small curtain by a room that looked to be the bathroom.

Angela stopped and put her hand on Fareeha's back saying, "Sweetie, why don't you get ready for bed. I'll be right back."

Fareeha nodded, and Angela made her way into the bathroom and locked the door behind her.

The first thing she did when she was sure that she was alone was fall onto the toilet and sob into her hands. Defying her own expectations, she had done it, she had made it to her destination safely. She pushed her fingers into her eyes and breathed into her hands, keeping up the façade that all was fine to the girl on the other side of the door.

She sat up on the toilet and wiped her eyes clean. She may have found some relief, but the night wasn't over yet. Slapping herself back to normal, she took some toilet paper and rubbed it into the crevices of her eyes, pulling out the sticky dried sweat and trying to rub away any irritated skin on her face or chest. She should have known that it would be much hotter traveling from Eastern Europe to the middle of the Equator, so not anticipating walking into an oven or packing sunscreen was her own fault. She hadn't seen a mirror, but she could guess that her face and chest looked as red as a ripe tomato after so much sun in so little time.

She looked off to the side and noticed the single person standing shower in the room. Even if the warm water heater wasn't on yet, a shower sounded so appetizing. She could think of nothing better at the moment than having cool water wash away the dirt and cleanse every crack, crevice, and hole in her body, but she knew that it wasn't the time for that. But, she could at least wash off her feet.

Still sitting, Angela bent over, reaching her hands out for her shoes, but stopped mid-way. Something in her back was screaming out in pain, like a lumbar out of place or support not in position. It stung like a hot poker being stabbed into her spine. It hurt so much that she had to sit up again and bare her teeth. She tried again, slowly and carefully bending herself over to try to find and tend to the tight spot on her back, but once she reached the same area as before, she was left with nothing to nurse.

She untied her shoes and slid them off, then, she pulled off her socks, feeling them peel away dried puss and skin before throwing them into an empty trash container. After the journey, she wanted to strip and throw all of her clothing into a hazardous Waste incinerator. Fareeha on her back as well as her own reaction to the heat made her feel drenched in sweat, the area in between her legs in particular felt chafed and as if she had a rash from her pants rubbing against her legs for so long. But she knew she couldn't do that, not yet at least.

She pulled up her first foot, turning it over on her lap and gave it a look, not surprised to find her toe nails all jagged and raised, blisters under all of her toes, and dried white lines of dead skin tracing down the surface and curves of her feet. Under her big toe in particular was a large red crack which led into her body. She got to work, popping the blisters and peeling away the disgust and the gooey stringy mixture of lint from her socks and coagulated blood from the cuts on her feet. When done, she inspected the other foot, checking it for any fungal growths and other wounds needing attention, and the only major difference was a massive crack on the back of her heel.

When done, she swung her feet into shower and turned the water on, washing the dirt off her feet for a few seconds before turning it back off. She looked up to the counter and found a first aid kit. She pulled it over and opened it, a smile crossing her face as she found a tube ointment in the kit.

But, as she uncorked it, she realized that it wouldn't work without a means to keep her wounds clean, and as she remembered, her spare clothes were somewhere on the side of the coastal highway. Instead, she set the rub aside and pulled out disposable alcohol swabs. She ripped the package open and barred her teeth, keeping silent as she rushed over all the opening and wounds on her feet with the sterilizing agent.

When done, she pulled her shoes back on and exited the bathroom, finding Fareeha sitting on the bed with a pair of purple pajamas with cat faces on them. The girl was once again playing on her portable game system, but this time her backpack was open, revealing the stowed treasure of water bottles and poptarts within.

"Need a drink?" she asked.

Without hesitation, Angela sat and downed the entire bottle of water. When she was done, she set it aside and pulled out the container of ointment. She explained what it was, instructed Fareeha to keep her feet clean, and then spread a fingertip's worth of the paste on the spot where Fareeha's blistered toe was. When the operation was complete, Angela stood and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" the girl asked.

"I'll be back," the doctor replied, "I just need to make sure they know we're here."

Angela exited the trailer and stood in the night, breathing in the fresh air. The Journey had ended, but the real battle was yet to begin.

* * *

It wasn't hard to find where the command building was. Afterall, although the camp was largely dark, the lights from the office in its second story was still on. Angela approached the Headquarters and entered, made her way up the second story and was about to knock on the door with light flooding from between the door and its frame when she heard voices.

"Any word from the team at the old radio tower?" asked a man's voice.

"No." said a woman, "we're still on shortwave radios. It should be back in order within the hour."

"Good. Any word on the doctor?"

"Nothing yet, but a team's been dispatched to the Airport director's house. A patrol also called in saying they found some luggage on the side of the road. They thought it was an IED, but apparently it had some women's clothes in it."

"Hmm…"

"I told you this would happen. This is no place for children, Jack . You're too nice to her."

"She's not a child, Ana."

"You can say that all you want now, but it won't matter if something happens to her."

Knowing that eavesdropping was wrong, Angela knocked on the door and was immediately ordered to enter.

She opened it and saw Overwatch's commander and his second around a desk. Commander Jack Morrison was sitting at the helm while he looked over a map while Captain Ana Amari stood on the opposite side, a belt full of hand held radios on her hip. Both almost jumped when they saw her enter.

Exhausted, Angela entered and saw an open chair at the opposite side of the desk. She approached and took a seat, saying, "I'm sorry to bother you, but as you can see, the phones are down and…" she thought for a moment, "I had an unexpected delay."

"We're just glad to see you're safe, doctor." Jack said, relaxing in his chair.

"Me too." She said, rubbing one of her many sunburns.

Captain Amari watched her as she slouched in the chair, eyeing the two having a happy little reunion and getting sick to her stomach, "Wait… where's your assistant? Wasn't he supposed to be with you?"

For as much as she hated to admit it, today had go on for so long that she had forgotten all about him, "My technician was ill, he felt it wouldn't be safe to continue on so I left him in good care and continued without him."

"So you decided to come to a third world country in the midst of a war all alone?"

Angela tried to object, but found the Captain's statement true. "Yes. I knew that you would need me here."

"Well, now that you're here, the situation has appeared to be worse than we originally imagined. It'd be best that all non-combat personnel evacuate as soon as possible."

Angela closed her eyes and took a long breath. " _Here we go again."_ She thought. "Ana, We've already had this conversation before. I appreciate your concern for my wellbeing, but I am your chief medical officer. I must go where I am needed."

"Doctor Ziegler, you aren't in a hospital in a neutral zone anymore. One wrong move and we'll have the enemy at our doorstep. What will you do when you're staring them down in person?" Ana barked.

"We'll have to find out, then." Angela snapped.

"That's enough." Interjected Commander Morrison. The last thing he needed were for casualties to begin before the fighting even started. "Its been a long night. Get some rest and we'll figure out what we're going to do when the situation is clearer."

Ana stood with her hands at her hips. Angela nursed the bridge of her nose with both hands. She was deep in thought, thinking of what she was about to do next, and although she wanted to just forget about it, she knew that it had to be done.

She sat up, looked at the Captain square in the eye, and said in a calm and even tone, "Ana, Fareeha's here."

Dead silence. Commander Morrison slowly rose out of his chair with his hands at the ready. Captain Amari stood still, like the statement was in a foreign language. Her eye began to twitch, searching the much younger woman for a smile or a hint that what she had said was some sort of joke; a smart little quip to get under the Egyptian woman's skin. Finally, she asked in an equally even and tempered tone, "Where is she."

"Ana…" said Jack.

"Not now. Where is she!"

Angela raised a hand ever so slightly, "She's in my -"

"Take me to her." The Captain marched to the door, opening it and demanding the doctor to follow.

"Wait!" Angela continued, "She's probably sleeping by now."

"Stand down, Captain." Ordered the Commander.

With fists clenched so tight that they could break bones, Captain Amari returned to the desk with the look of a tiger ready to pounce. Somehow controlling herself, she asked, "What is she doing here?"

"I just happened to find during a layover. According to her, she wanted to see you, so she snuck onto the base and into a transport but was lost when they landed and couldn't sneak back onto the ship."

"So you brought her to an active warzone?!"

"I'm sorry, Ana. But I couldn't reach anyone here or at the base and my flight was about to depart. I didn't know what else to do."

"How about not putting her in danger for a start!"

"Captain! Stand down!"

Angela felt as if she wanted to stand up and take the Black belt on in hand to hand, but her throbbing feet kept her from doing so. All she could do was sit and push her fingers further and further into her palms as she returned the death stare into the captain's eyes.

Finally, she closed her eyes again and covered her face, breathing in and collecting herself once more. There was silence as the tension in the room stabilized. Finally, Angela picked her head up and said, "You're right, Captain. That wasn't a very good decision of mine and I'm sorry, but I didn't feel comfortable leaving her alone in a foreign country."

The captain stood for a moment and collected her thoughts, finally saying, "I want both of you on a transport and back home in the morning, and that is final."

Angela gave a sigh and rubbed the side of her temple once more, another olive branch cast aside. "While we both agree on getting Fareeha to safety, we'll have to finish the rest of this conversation later." Using both hands, she lifted herself from the chair and stood, wincing at the weight on her feet, "As for me, I feel as if I am about to collapse." She turned and slowly walked to the door, saying goodnight and closing it behind her.

The two waited for her to leave when Ana turned back to the Commander, her hands tightly across her chest. "oooh!" she began, "that girl is trouble. I just can't believe it sometimes."

"Which one?" The Commander asked, hands up and supporting his chin as he leaned on the desk, use them as a shield to cover his mouth.

"You know which one." She snapped, and then continued on muttering to herself in her native tongue. She eventually returned to the moment and said, "Fareeha… I swear she can be stubborn. She must get it from her father. I just know it."

"Oh, definitely." Jack Morrison replied, still covering his mouth.

She then turned to Jack and said, "she must have known this was going to happen to get back at me, somehow. Why else would she think to bring _my_ daughter along with her? Yeah, just because she walked all the way here from the airport doesn't change anything. I just can't believe it, did she really think that it would my mind? I swear… I swear… First light I'm going to that trailer and kicking the door down and drag them both to the transports myself!" Finally she had to stop, Jack Morrison's content grin unable to hide behind his hands anymore. "And stop looking at me like that."

Commander Morrison refused, but instead, pointing to a military dufflebag stashed in the corner of the room and said, "Binoculars are in the back left pocket."

* * *

Without collapsing due to exhaustion, Angela made her way back her trailer and, as she expected, Fareeha was sleeping when she opened the door. Angela stood at the bed for a moment, looking at the girl sleeping on top of the bare mattress and pillow and the open curtains behind her and considered what she would do, but remembering that she had no spare clothes to change into simply decided to sit on the bed, cast her shoes off, and climb over Fareeha to the other side.

Fareeha on her side and Angela on her back, the doctor gave a heavy sign and closed her eyes, finally able to rest.

"Ms. Angela."

Angela Ziegler opened her eyes and rolled over to her side. "What is it, sweetie?"

"My mom's mad. Isn't she?"

With access granted, Angela thought of all the things she could say, all of the choice words she could think of to get the Captain where it hurt the worst, but for as much as she wanted it, she couldn't. "What makes you say that, Fareeha?"

"My mom and dad… they fight a lot. You just… you just sounded like my dad when they have to go away from each other for a while. I… I'm sorry I got you in trouble, Ms. Angela."

"No, no. Sweetie, It's not your fault." She said, wrapping her arms around the small girl and holding her close. She could only imagine what it was like living with Ana as a wife and mother. Her father must have been a strong man.

"Sometimes it gets really bad, and I hear the things that they say. I really wish they could just stop sometimes."

"I know, sweetie. I know." Angela held up her arm, looking at the time on her big Rolex. This was one of the last things she had of her father. She had seen this before from the stories of the girls at her boarding school, but for as much as she tried, she could never relate. Her parents had been murdered a long time ago in a place much like this. She had always loved her momma and Papa, and when she lost them she felt so very alone, but on the other hand, she supposed that she never learned to hate her parents, or see them tear each other apart. Sometimes she wondered if losing them the way she did was a blessing or a curse in that regard.

Looking down on little Fareeha, the little hellion that she had snuck her way across a continent and an ocean, all she could feel was pity. She felt her pain, and like a spider weaving a web to save a pig from slaughter, she wished that there was more that she could do to make her feel better.

"Fareeha, let me tell you something." She said, "I don't know what you're going through, but I do know this; your mother and father love you very much, and whatever else is in store for you will have to wait until morning, so get some rest." She bent her arm back, cleaning up Fareeha's hair and exposing her forehead for a good-night kiss. Although Angela was not a Barn Spider, Fareeha was not a Spring Pig, and Ana was not a farmer named Zimmerman, Angela used the last of her strength to wrap her arms around the little girl much like Charlotte cradled her eggsack.

After a very long and busy day, they both fell fast asleep for the night. But before then they were so exhausted that they couldn't see the thin green laser shining into the window of the camper, feeding data to the microphone of a set of tactical binoculars and the person crouching behind cover as she listen to the two from one hundred yards away.

* * *

Less like waking from sleep and more like emerging from a coma, Angela Ziegler opened her eyes and slowly began to register the world around her.

The first thing she recognized was that she appeared to be alone in the bed. From what she recalled last, Fareeha had been in her arms, and judging from how much the girl had rested and little Angela had during the previous day, the doctor assumed that she had rose on her own. Next, from her vision, she saw a black rolling luggage carrier set up near the bed. It took a moment to recognize that it was her own, which caused her to breathe a sigh of relief. Although the thought of having an enlisted man sneak into her trailer without her knowledge frightened her, it was nice to have her possessions back.

Next was her sense of feeling, and the first thing that she noticed was the wear and tear from the previous day. Like she had predicted, every bump, scratch, ache, and pain was still there and held an even larger presence from the day before, but she was grateful that she had gone through it and done so safely. She began to move slowly, testing her body and sampling what hurt the most, and in doing so she discovered a pleasant surprise. Like her suitcase, her favorite jean jacket-the ones with wings on the back that she had left with her other possessions on the side of the road- had returned to her, and it was draped over her upper body much like a blanket.

Still on her side, she rolled over onto her back, cracking and popping her shoulder and feet as she moved them. She began to sit up, and to her surprise, she found that her feet had been bandaged, and as she moved her toes, felt as if they were all bathing in creams and moisturizers. She chalked that one up to Fareeha. Maybe after recalling how her own blister had been dealt with she decided to give Angela a helping hand. What impressed her the most was that the bandages were actually wound quite well and were pretty tight. With a little bit of time the Swiss doctor could make a good paramedic out of her yet.

But then the rest of her nerves woke up and she realized that she felt something sticky on her. She looked down at her chest and found that her bosom and shoulder –completely absent from the protection of her kami- were quite red from the sunburn, but at the same time were also covered in a sticky goo. Her face felt as if it were layered in the same substance, and as she felt and sniffed it, she confirmed her suspicions and realized that it was aloe.

Finally, her sense of smell awakened, and with it, the scent of an open flame and something cooking, and knowing how much of a bad idea it was to leave a child to cook, sprung to life with urgency.

Still incredibly sore, she made her way to the side of the bed and swung her legs out, gently setting them down on the floor and stumbling to a stand. As she turned and faced into the miniature kitchen area, she froze, seeing Captain Ana Amari standing in the center of her trailer.

Angela felt like a wounded gazelle staring down the hulking alpha male of a lion's pride. All she could see were her eyes, one decorated with a tattoo of the Eye of Horus, staring directly at her. Her Beret, still on her head while she still wore her blue Overwatch Uniform underneath… an apron?

"Ah, Doctor Ziegler, its good to see you're finally awake." It was in that moment that she turned back to the stove, setting down a frying pan with white eggs cooking on the hot surface. The Captain motioned to the table, where Fareeha sat with knife and fork in hand and said, "Take a seat. Breakfast is almost ready." Angela did as ordered and limped over to the bench and took a seat. Ana continued, "Fareeha has been telling me that you two had quite the adventure yesterday." The girl confirmed the claim, and then continued to recount her story from where she had last left off. Angela sat, still trying to comprehend what was going on.

A few moments later, a plate full of cheese and scrambled eggs was set down in front of her with a disposable container of milk. Ana set her oven mitts aside and sat down opposite the two girls and smiled, saying, "It didn't occur to me until this morning that I never thanked you for taking care of my daughter. So… thank you."


End file.
